Pattaya motorcycle taxi rider threatens to kill 2 foreigners over fare dispute

[bradiston]

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I guess if he doubled it on arrival you wouldn't be happy 

I never asked for a price. I paid him what I had to hand. 100 seemed fair including a "Songkran bonus". I can't be doing with this skinflint every baht counts mentality.

[NONG CHOK]

5 hours ago, HuskerDo2 said:

Such a silly situation over such a small amount of money. Split the difference and call it a misunderstanding and move on.

I've always used baht buses when it's appropiate and I always stay in accomodation not far from where I'm planning most of my action. " those boots were made for walking ". Which reminds me I was in a baht bus in Naklua Road a few years ago, I payed the 10 baht and the driver snarled at me and took off with my wrist jammed in the window. A real cretin. Why? Probably because after ringing the bell he went well past my destination. So I rang it again. Probably it was my fault as I must've hurt his feelings. Not one word was uttered between either of us.

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, bradiston said:

Not during Songkran according to one poster. Fully booked.

Well, 80 baht there and then 80 baht back this morning. HOWEVER, both drivers said they would not go Soi Bhuakhao. So anyone using them will need to make their pick-up drop off a little away I guess

[ozimoron]

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Well, 80 baht there and then 80 baht back this morning. HOWEVER, both drivers said they would not go Soi Bhuakhao. So anyone using them will need to make their pick-up drop off a little away I guess

Grab wouldn't deliver last night and I don't live in soi buakhao but they would have had to run the gauntlet to get here.

[richard_smith237]

53 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

I wonder what these keeneo farangs did to upset him so much? I've never had a motorcycle taxi driver ever say anything except "kop koon krup". (Thank you).

I bet you’ve never have a taxi try to rip you off... or had a driver try not to use the meter, or just refuse the journey because he didn’t want to go to your destination... 

 

... the issue with the ‘never happened to me’ types, is that they don’t live in the same reality as anyone else in Thailand !!!... 

 

-------

 

I’ve had the same ‘scam’ attempt pushed on me with TukTuk drivers in both Bangkok and Phuket. 

Ask the driver how much to go from A-B... they answer (usually something a little inflated but tolerable), when we get to our destination they get upset and state the fare was ‘per-person’... 

... a common scam... they know they are trying it on, we know they are trying it on. 

 

 

The best thing to do of course is to avoid these characters wherever possible - BUT... its not always possible, so we have to ‘pre-empt’ every possible scam attempt.

 

These tourists probably knew they were getting scammed...  the rider also knew he was trying to pull a fast one - the rider clearly an unhinged nut-case. 

 

 

 

 

[ozimoron]

4 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I bet you’ve never have a taxi try to rip you off... or had a driver try not to use the meter, or just refuse the journey because he didn’t want to go to your destination... 

 

... the issue with the ‘never happened to me’ types, is that they don’t live in the same reality as anyone else in Thailand !!!... 

 

-------

 

I’ve had the same ‘scam’ attempt pushed on me with TukTuk drivers in both Bangkok and Phuket. 

Ask the driver how much to go from A-B... they answer (usually something a little inflated but tolerable), when we get to our destination they get upset and state the fare was ‘per-person’... 

... a common scam... they know they are trying it on, we know they are trying it on. 

 

 

The best thing to do of course is to avoid these characters wherever possible - BUT... its not always possible, so we have to ‘pre-empt’ every possible scam attempt.

 

These tourists probably knew they were getting scammed...  the rider also knew he was trying to pull a fast one - the rider clearly an unhinged nut-case.

All of them didn't want to use the meter. I just negotiate a price I think is fair and reasonable. Not the cheapest price I can force them to accept.

 

The price was reasonable and in line with what is normally quoted., I've never been quoted less than 50 baht per person for me and a girl and two fat farangs during songkran at peak demand was eminently reasonable.

[richard_smith237]

4 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

All of them didn't want to use the meter. I just negotiate a price I think is fair and reasonable. Not the cheapest price I can force them to accept.

 

The price was reasonable and in line with what is normally quoted., I've never been quoted less than 50 baht per person for me and a girl and two fat farangs during songkran at peak demand was eminently reasonable.

Fair response....   and fair approach. 

 

I handle things the same way when getting ripped off by taxi’s at night - often little alternative to paying 300 baht for a 100 baht Journey (often in area’s where Grab rarely accept rides)....

 

I very rarely use the MC guys.. so have no issues, but to me it seems obvious what was going on here. 

 

The MC guy moved the goal-posts after reaching destination and the tourists argued - This is not uncommon and has caught many of us out at some-point (usually TukTuks)...

 

... Call it Thai inventiveness, they’ll often try any ‘angle’ to squeeze an advantage... its not about the money, its about some ayhole trying to take you for a mug - some people can walkaway from that saying its not worth the hassle, others push-back - Sometimes I pushback, sometimes I can’t be bothered (that also depends on the safety of the situation).

 

 

 

 

[Olmate]

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

the issue with the ‘never happened to me’ types, is that they don’t live in the same reality as anyone else in

The issue is they have a differing experience to you and you find that annoying.Then you infer they are lying by using the term 'different reality'.!! Too funny.

[NextG]

1 hour ago, ozimoron said:

I wonder what these keeneo farangs did to upset him so much? I've never had a motorcycle taxi driver ever say anything except "kop koon krup". (Thank you).

First of all, they aren’t ‘farangs’. Secondly, they thought the fare from Central Festival to Soi 6 was 80 baht per bike, rather than 80 baht per person. He was ripping them off and they objected to it. Why not read the article BEFORE commenting?

[ozimoron]

2 minutes ago, NextG said:

First of all, they aren’t ‘farangs’. Secondly, they thought the fare from Central Festival to Soi 6 was 80 baht per bike, rather than 80 baht per person. He was ripping them off and they objected to it. Why not read the article BEFORE commenting?

Then why didn't they get on two bikes? That question leapt out at me from the get go. It was a red flag that two male foreigners both wanted to get on the same bike. If they weren't farangs that was irrelevant so I didn't check.

[NextG]

1 hour ago, bradiston said:

I never asked for a price. I paid him what I had to hand. 100 seemed fair including a "Songkran bonus". I can't be doing with this skinflint every baht counts mentality.

Wow… such a heroic gesture 

[NextG]

1 minute ago, ozimoron said:

Then why didn't they get on two bikes? That question leapt out at me from the get go. It was a red flag that two male foreigners both wanted to get on the same bike. If they weren't farangs that was irrelevant so I didn't check.

Because the Win will make them get on one bike. Have you ever been to Pattaya? You didn’t check? It’s in the very first post…. pathetic. 

[georgegeorgia]

1 hour ago, bradiston said:

I never asked for a price. I paid him what I had to hand. 100 seemed fair including a "Songkran bonus". I can't be doing with this skinflint every baht counts mentality.

Well your either very rich or don't have much , because I personally wouldn't be tipping a baht bus driver 100b if I'm never going to see him again nor would he appreciate it nor remember you after the 3 seconds to pay him.

 

I'm not being rude but I generally find people like you who are careless with money don't have enough money in life for other things and spend carelessly 

[NextG]

2 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

How was that trivia relevant?

Because you are banging on about them being ‘overweight’ farangs. Have you been on the juice? Your behaviour seems somewhat outlandish?

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, NextG said:

Because you are banging on about them being ‘overweight’ farangs. Have you been on the juice? Your behaviour seems somewhat outlandish?

You don't do sarcasm? American?

[NextG]

5 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Then why didn't they get on two bikes? That question leapt out at me from the get go. It was a red flag that two male foreigners both wanted to get on the same bike. If they weren't farangs that was irrelevant so I didn't check.

It’s a long running SCAM by the Win. If you don’t know that then you probably haven’t spent much time in Thailand at all. 

[bradiston]

29 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I bet you’ve never have a taxi try to rip you off... or had a driver try not to use the meter, or just refuse the journey because he didn’t want to go to your destination... 

 

... the issue with the ‘never happened to me’ types, is that they don’t live in the same reality as anyone else in Thailand !!!... 

 

-------

 

I’ve had the same ‘scam’ attempt pushed on me with TukTuk drivers in both Bangkok and Phuket. 

Ask the driver how much to go from A-B... they answer (usually something a little inflated but tolerable), when we get to our destination they get upset and state the fare was ‘per-person’... 

... a common scam... they know they are trying it on, we know they are trying it on. 

 

 

The best thing to do of course is to avoid these characters wherever possible - BUT... its not always possible, so we have to ‘pre-empt’ every possible scam attempt.

 

These tourists probably knew they were getting scammed...  the rider also knew he was trying to pull a fast one - the rider clearly an unhinged nut-case. 

 

 

 

 

Not difficult to make sure the fare includes everybody. In Thai even. If you can't speak the language, just walk.

[ozimoron]

Just now, NextG said:

It’s a long running SCAM by the Win. If you don’t know that then you probably haven’t spent much time in Thailand at all. 

As I said, I've never encountered it and I'm at a loss to understand how the "Win" can force two foreigners onto one bike. BTW, I've never heard them called that. Can you explain what it means?

[NextG]

Just now, bradiston said:

Not difficult to make sure the fare includes everybody. In Thai even. If you can't speak the language, just walk.

Why would you do that? No one expects to have two passengers on a bike. When they are ready to go after agreeing the fare, the Win insists they get on one bike. Hence the belief the fare will be 80 baht per bike. Short term tourists don’t learn advanced Thai before arrival. 

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Then why didn't they get on two bikes? That question leapt out at me from the get go. It was a red flag that two male foreigners both wanted to get on the same bike. If they weren't farangs that was irrelevant so I didn't check.

Obviously we are not sure why.... BUT.. in the past I’ve had motorcycle riders try and take me and friend on the same bike and we’ve had to say no !!...  (at 6ft / 90kgs - thats too much for one bike). Perhaps the MC guy wants a ‘double fare’ for the same journey 

 

So.. why would other (non-oversized) tourists get on the same bike - perhaps they are smaller and thats the option they were given (by a rider who figured he could double up on rates). 

 

 

It's easy to see how this happened...  either through clumsiness and neither party being specific about the rates, or the rider being deliberately misleading and moving the goalposts after arriving at destination. 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

I like this from the linked article: 

 

Quote

The incidents serve as a reminder to all passengers to try and resolve disputes peacefully and not resort to violence.

 

What they really mean is..  The incident serves as a reminder not to argue and just pay out or there is a risk of violence !!!!   it never ceases to entertain me how thuggery is often whitewashed here.

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

As I said, I've never encountered it and I'm at a loss to understand how the "Win" can force two foreigners onto one bike. BTW, I've never heard them called that. Can you explain what it means?

The Majority of people know these ‘riders’ as ‘Win’ riders because thats what they are...  

 

 

Win is actually the name for the area they hang around and wait to service transport on a first come first served basis....  and the English language is actually used here... as in ‘win’... they are called 'win motorsai rap jang’...  as with pretty much everything here, shorted to ‘win’... 

 

AND... they can’t force you to travel 3 up on a motorcycle (Win rider + two passengers), but they sometimes ‘encourage’ that so they can get more for their ride by charging double  (particularly at busy times). 

 

For more happy go lucky tourists or the uninitiated, they’ll just accept whatever is offered, in this case they then faced the issue at their destination after being told 80 baht per journey only then to realise the rider wanted 80 baht per person. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ozimoron]

9 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Obviously we are not sure why.... BUT.. in the past I’ve had motorcycle riders try and take me and friend on the same bike and we’ve had to say no !!...  (at 6ft / 90kgs - thats too much for one bike). Perhaps the MC guy wants a ‘double fare’ for the same journey 

So.. why would other (non-oversized) tourists get on the same bike - perhaps they are smaller and thats the option they were given (by a rider who figured he could double up on rates).

It's easy to see how this happened...  either through clumsiness and neither party being specific about the rates, or the rider being deliberately misleading and moving the goalposts after arriving at destination.

Their motive was transparent. If they both wanted to go on the same bike they were looking to save a few satangs. Either that or the bike taxis were so busy they had no choice in which case one could hardly blame them for doing an user and jacking up the price. Whether this happened after the trip or whether they decided after the fact that it was too expensive isn't clear.

[NextG]

Just now, ozimoron said:

It was a serious question and I speak Thai. Again, what does "Win" mean?

If you speak Thai language, ask a “Win”. They’ll explain to you in Thai language. 

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

The Majority of people know these ‘riders’ as ‘Win’ riders because thats what they are... 

 

Win is actually the name for the area they hang around and wait to service transport on a first come first served basis....  and the English language is actually used here... as in ‘win’... they are called 'win motorsai rap jang’...  as with pretty much everything here, shorted to ‘win’... 

 

AND... they can’t force you to travel 3 up on a motorcycle (Win rider + two passengers), but they sometimes ‘encourage’ that so they can get more for their ride by charging double  (particularly at busy times). 

 

For more happy go lucky tourists or the uninitiated, they’ll just accept whatever is offered, in this case they then faced the issue at their destination after being told 80 baht per journey only then to realise the rider wanted 80 baht per person.

What area is that? I'm not disputing you at all, just never heard the term used. My experience is that most normally encourage foreigners (or farangs lol) to take two bikes to help their mates out. I always think it strange to see two "foreigners" on a bike and when I do it's always Indians.

[ozimoron]

5 minutes ago, NextG said:

If you speak Thai language, ask a “Win”. They’ll explain to you in Thai language. 

She's asleep. I looked it up and saw that Thaiger explain it as any orange vest mc taxi rider. They also mention exorbitant prices to pay for premium ranks so that explains why prices are understandably more expensive from those areas. I normally take a short walk from Central to soi moo cow if I have lots of shopping and don't wan to walk. Bottom line, the price was reasonable for that location.

[ozimoron]

2 minutes ago, NextG said:

You are posting nonsense. I was around  when this scam began, as a way of the ‘Win’ doubling up on fares. 
Of course people ‘in the know’ simply refuse and take two bikes, but the unwary and the sex tourists are the ones who become ensnared. Unwary because they don’t know and sex tourists because they cannot bear the thought of losing their rental along the way.

Are sex tourists stupider than other tourists? What in the article made you presume they were sex tourists? You accuse me of making wild assumptions.

Edited April 15, 2023 by ozimoron

[NextG]

1 minute ago, ozimoron said:

She's asleep. I looked it up and saw that Thaiger explain it as any orange vest mc taxi rider. They also mention exorbitant prices to pay for premium ranks so that explains why prices are understandably more expensive from those areas. I normally take a short walk from Central to soi moo cow if I have lots of shopping and don't wan to walk. Bottom line, the price was reasonable for that location.

They were actually outside Made In Thailand market as opposed to Central Festival. There is no need for increased prices. The increased frequency of fare paying customers covers their higher payments. Seems you are destined for the ignore list. There’s only so many ridiculous posts one can tolerate. 

[NextG]

2 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Are sex tourists stupider than other tourists? What in the article made you presume they were sex tourists? You accuse me of making wild assumptions.

I didn’t. They fall under ‘unwary’. Sex tourists were described as travelling with their ‘rentals’. Seems that you got up on the wrong side of bed this morning. Brain fog?

[bradiston]

24 minutes ago, NextG said:

Why would you do that? No one expects to have two passengers on a bike. When they are ready to go after agreeing the fare, the Win insists they get on one bike. Hence the belief the fare will be 80 baht per bike. Short term tourists don’t learn advanced Thai before arrival. 

There'll always be the one win who takes them, 2 up. But, easy to point to yourself and your friend and say "80 baht?" The win points to each in turn and says "You 80 baht" and to your friend "You 80 baht". Maybe you come back with 120. Whatever. It's all down to communication. 99% of disagreements are down to misunderstandings.